The largest contemporary art event in the Southern Hemisphere occupies the Bienal Pavilion, in Ibirapuera Park, in São Paulo. The 36th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo began on 6 September and will be open to the public until 11 January 2026, with free admission and new features, such as the installations at Casa do Povo, in Bom Retiro. There are 125 artists, with a predominance of representatives from the African continent and Latin America.
The theme and the curatorial team
The works dialogue with the central theme, taken from the poem "Da Calma e do Silêncio", by Conceição Evaristo: with the verse "Nem todo viandante anda estradas - Da humanidade como prática" as inspiration, the chief curator, responsible for the exhibition concept, was Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, alongside the co-curators Alya Sebti, Anna Roberta Goetz and Thiago de Paula Souza, the co-curator at large Keyna Eleison and the communication and strategy consultant Henriette Gallus.
The Invocations, the curators' opening ritual
Before designing the exhibition, the curatorial team held a series of public events named "Invocações" in Marrakech, Guadeloupe, Zanzibar and Tokyo. These stages worked as an "initial ritual", where artists, poets, musicians and activists debated themes such as belonging and collectivity; far beyond preparatory events, these trips by the team became a fundamental part of the curatorship.
The artists of the 36th Bienal
Among the Brazilian highlights are artists such as Alberto Pitta, Aislan Pankararu, Aline Baiana, Antonio Társis, Gê Viana, Gervane de Paula, Heitor dos Prazeres, Juliana dos Santos, Lídia Lisbôa, Márcia Falcão, Maria Auxiliadora, Marlene Almeida, Maxwell Alexandre, Moisés Patricio, Nádia Taquary and Sallisa Rosa.
On the international side, highlights include works by Adama Delphine Fawundu, Amina Agueznay, Kader Attia, Leiko Ikemura, Laure Prouvost, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Oscar Murillo, Otobong Nkanga, Precious Okoyomon, Suchitra Mattai, Thania Petersen, Wolfgang Tillmans and Pol Taburet.
An education programme for 100,000 children
Another highlight is the educational programme, which plans to bring up to 100,000 children to the pavilion and train more than 25,000 public school teachers, a significant expansion compared with the 80,000 and 18,000, respectively, of the previous edition.
Want to know more? Visit the official São Paulo Biennial website.
